diff --git a/apps/api/.env.example b/apps/api/.env.example
index 9a4541c..34e24b1 100644
--- a/apps/api/.env.example
+++ b/apps/api/.env.example
@@ -1,18 +1,24 @@
-ENV=
-NUM_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE=8
-PORT=
-HOST=
-SUPABASE_ANON_TOKEN=
-SUPABASE_URL=
+# ===== Required ENVS ======
+NUM_WORKERS_PER_QUEUE=8 
+PORT=3002
+HOST=0.0.0.0
+REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379
+
+## To turn on DB authentication, you need to set up supabase.
+USE_DB_AUTHENTICATION=true
+
+# ===== Optional ENVS ======
+
+# Supabase Setup (used to support DB authentication, advanced logging, etc.)
+SUPABASE_ANON_TOKEN= 
+SUPABASE_URL= 
 SUPABASE_SERVICE_TOKEN=
-REDIS_URL=
 
-# Optional
-
-SCRAPING_BEE_API_KEY=
-OPENAI_API_KEY=
-BULL_AUTH_KEY=
-LOGTAIL_KEY=
-PLAYWRIGHT_MICROSERVICE_URL=
-LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY=
-TEST_API_KEY=
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+# Other Optionals
+TEST_API_KEY= # use if you've set up authentication and want to test with a real API key
+SCRAPING_BEE_API_KEY= #Set if you'd like to use scraping Be to handle JS blocking
+OPENAI_API_KEY= # add for LLM dependednt features (image alt generation, etc.)
+BULL_AUTH_KEY= #
+LOGTAIL_KEY= # Use if you're configuring basic logging with logtail
+PLAYWRIGHT_MICROSERVICE_URL=  # set if you'd like to run a playwright fallback
+LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY= #Set if you have a llamaparse key you'd like to use to parse pdfs
\ No newline at end of file